Walking Tour Journeys Through City's Past

A walking tour through Maitland's past, led by members of the Maitland Historical Society, will start the Maitland Centennial Wednesday.

The program will begin at city hall, pause for lunch at a church, and conclude at the city cemetery on Lake Destiny Road.

The tour is free but a $6.50 donation is requested for the lunch, sponsored by the Maitland Garden Club, Dommerich Hills Garden Club and Maitland Women's Club. During lunch members of the women's club will wear antique fashions.

Historical society members Rita Parker and Marjorie Tope said ''A Walk Through Maitland's History'' will start with a presentation at 9 a.m. in the auditorium of city hall, 1776 Independence Lane, between Packwood and Horatio avenues.

Leading the ceremonies will be Russell P. Hulbert, a former president of United Telephone Co., which started in Maitland.

Mayor E.X. Blaschka will read the city council proclamation declaring the four-day centennial. Following that will be the singing of The Maitland Song, written by the wife of city founder Isaac Vanderpool to the tune of America The Beautiful.

The Maitland Rotary Club will perform a short play representing the signing of the city charter on July 17, 1885.

Then the historical society will show ''A Star-Spangled Salute to the Maitland Centennial,'' an 18-minute audio-visual presentation tracing the city's origins from the Spanish conquest of Florida in the early 16th century to the present. The show was highly acclaimed by residents at its premiere in January.

After the show, audience members will be given a map of the downtown area and may walk or drive to the following historic sites. Lunch will be served at Church of The Good Shepherd at noon and the tour will conclude at 2:30 p.m. at the cemetery.

-- First Presbyterian Church, 341 N. Orlando Ave. (U.S. Highway 17-92). Founded in 1882, the church used facilities of a Methodist church on Horatio Avenue and U.S. Highway 17-92, no longer in existence, until 1885. It will be open from 10 a.m. to noon with displays of the original pews and bell and the first pulpit Bible.

-- Asbury United Methodist Church, 220 W. Horatio Ave. After the original Methodist church, built in 1880, was sold in 1936, there was no Methodist church in Maitland until Asbury was organized in 1958 and completed in 1960. Of interest here are the stained-glass windows depicting the Old Testament, the life of Jesus Christ, and Christianity's progress.

-- Maitland Art Center, 231 W. Packwood Ave. The center will exhibit works of its founder, artist-architect Andre Smith, and 16 of the the Bok Fellows, 60 artists he invited to live and work there from 1938 to 1958. Many of the works have never before been exhibited. The center is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

-- Maitland Historical Society, 221 W. Packwood Ave. The white frame house next to the art center contains one of the few museums of early telephone equipment in the country, as well as displays of old clothes, furniture, china, kitchen utensils, maps, citrus packing crates, etc. During the centennial, hours will 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. daily.

-- Maitland Public Library, 501 S. Maitland Ave. Founded in 1896 with a gift of 386 books from Clara J. Dommerich, the library is in a building erected in 1907 and expanded in 1959 and 1973. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, staff members, will give tours of the facility and answer questions. On display are an exhibit on loan from the Florida State Museum, ''Florida and the American Civil War,'' and photographs and other materials from the historical society.

-- Maitland Civic Center, 641 S. Maitland Ave. Dedicated in 1965, the civic center was the first such center in the nation built entirely with private contributions.

-- Maitland Garden Club, 831 S. Lake Lily Drive. The oldest social club in town and one of the oldest active garden clubs in Florida was founded in 1924 as a branch of the women's club. It is currently located in the old Morrison house, which was on the land donated to the city for the civic center. The house was moved to its present site and renovated in 1979. Club members have beautified Maitland streets and parks with palms, shrubs and roses.

-- Waterhouse residence, 710 S. Lake Lily Drive. Listed on the National Register of Historical Places, this 101-year-old home has been occupied continuously by members of the original family of William H. Waterhouse, a New York building contractor who moved to Maitland in 1882. Waterhouse helped the town get its charter and served 36 years on the town council. His granddaughter, Alice Waterhouse Peterson, still lives in the two-story hard- pine structure, which will not be open to the public.

-- Church of the Good Shepherd, 331 Lake Ave. The original Episcopal chapel consecrated in 1883 is the oldest church building in use in Maitland. The original rectory next door is now a private home. The new church, designed by Nils Schweizer, was completed in 1977 and contains stained-glass windows representing creation, incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and the Holy Spirit.

-- City cemetery, Lake Destiny Road. Episcopal Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple consecrated the cemetery in April 1892. The first sexton, J.W. Brocksmith, was paid $1.25 for digging and filling graves. Eleven veterans of the Civil War -- six Confederate, five Union soldiers -- are buried there and their graves will be marked with concrete memorials. Many founding citizens also rest on the Lake Lucien shores, including Capt. Josiah Eaton, the first mayor of Maitland and the man for whom Eatonville was named.